The present invention relates generally to kitchen appliances such as cooking or cleaning apparatus, which incorporate a display for displaying video or other electronic images generated from video or still-frame generating apparatus.
Everybody gathers in the kitchen. Kitchens necessarily include appliances for the storage, preparation and cleanup of meals and snacks. These include conventional ovens, convection ovens, microwave ovens, rotisseries, dishwashers, wine storage units, refrigerators, refrigerator drawer units, freezers, etc. With the kitchen being the central area in many homes, other devices are often desirable in the kitchen. These include televisions, computers, security camera displays and other video display devices. These devices take additional counterspace or other space in the kitchen, whether it be on a desk in the kitchen, on the counter, mounted under the cabinets or on stand alone tables.
Existing appliances do not incorporate video display units in such a manner that effective viewing is enabled. U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,939 electronically combines a microwave oven and television, whereby the cooking status can be displayed on a separate television set. A display on the television, typically in a family room, indicates the status of that being cooked in the microwave oven. U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,351 discloses a microwave oven having a video display in the form of a Braun tube, with extensive processing stages involved. The video display in the form of a Braun tube is quite small relative to the planar real estate occupied by the microwave oven, as can be clearly seen in FIG. 1. Also, the video display in the form of a Braun tube is on a non-moving panel portion of the microwave oven, which is normally reserved for controls and door-opening mechanisms. Many other appliances do not provide such non-moving panels at all, and if they do the panels are quite small so that the area of the appliance used for the storage, preparation or cleanup of meals is maximized. The disclosures of these patents are incorporated herein by reference.
An appliance incorporating a video display, such as that associated with a television or computer or camera, in a manner which permits effective viewing is desirable.